RAZON. - Founder of the Aramean kingdom of Damascus, son of a certain Eliada (Heb. Rezon ben 'Eliadha; in the Greek, codices B, L and in the Old Latin: Esrom, perhaps a transcription of the Heb. Hezyon [1 Kings 15:18], ancestor of Ben-hadad). An officer in the army of Hadadezer king of Zobah, he escaped the rout inflicted on the latter by David (2 Sam. 8:3-6; 10:15-19). R. gathered other fugitives around himself and became the leader of a strong band of raiders. Having made himself master of Damascus by a bold coup de main, he soon made it the capital of a kingdom which, through glorious periods, succumbed only to the Assyrian Empire (732; v. RASIN).

With the aim of dominating the trade routes toward the Mediterranean and Egypt, in addition to Zobah and other Aramean cities, he conquered Hamath, near Hermon (L. Desnoyers [v. op. cit. in bibl.], II, p. 220, n. 1); but the city was retaken from him by Solomon (2 Chron. 8:3), to whom, however, R. continued to give serious trouble, more than Edom itself to the south (1 Kings 11:23 ff.).

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: L. Desnoyers, Histoire du peuple hébreu, II, Paris 1930, pp. 104, 205-13, 223 f.; III, ibid. 1930, pp. 61-65; A. Médebielle, Samuel-Rois (La Ste Bible, ed. L. Piret, 3), ibid. 1949, p. 646. Francesco Spadafora

@incollection{ec10_razon, author = {Spadafora, Francesco}, title = {Razon}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {X}, pages = {583}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1953}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/razon} }

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